User growth methodology within the product and operations framework

As the Internet continues to develop, more and more means of user growth will emerge. But all the means can be categorized into two frameworks: user growth means within product framework and operation framework.

User growth has always been a difficult problem that many products need to face! In the second half of the mobile Internet , the cost of attracting new users is getting higher and higher. It is difficult to fully master the new traffic platform all at once, and many people are discouraged. There will be various methods of user growth in different stages of the development of the Internet, but in fact, behind all the methods, there is a set of methods that can be followed to guide us in building methods to achieve the goal of user growth.

Before developing a user growth strategy for your product, you must clarify three questions: Who are the users? Where? What are the characteristics?

The basis of user growth is users, so user analysis is very important before doing user growth. The purpose of user analysis is to form a user portrait . The more dimensions the portrait has, the better, and the more accurate it is, the better. Including but not limited to age group, interests and hobbies, regional distribution, online gathering areas, etc.

Only on this basis can we formulate all user growth strategies in a targeted manner to achieve our goals. Otherwise, if you don’t understand your users, it’s easy to go astray or achieve inefficient user growth.

After the goals and directions are clear, what needs to be done is to break down and refine the goals and develop corresponding measures to achieve the goal of user growth. As the Internet continues to develop, more and more means of user growth will emerge. But all the means can be categorized into two frameworks: user growth means within product framework and operation framework.

Within the product framework

The user growth methods within the product framework have two functions: one is to take over user traffic, and the other is the internal growth mechanism of the product .

User growth is actually a long-term measure. It is not just about users entering the product, logging in and registering. User growth should be viewed from the perspective of the entire user life cycle .

Taking over user traffic within the product framework actually means that when new users come to the current product platform, it is necessary to complete user guidance when the users form their initial understanding of the product, and quickly provide user value to occupy the psychological positioning and form long-term user relationships.

Because when users first enter the product, whether the product can get the user's point, meet the user's needs, and provide user value determines whether the relationship can continue, so the first impression is very important. Product functions need to have good cognitive connection, including but not limited to new user guidance, novice tasks, new user rewards, specific user incentive systems , etc.

The user growth point within the product is actually the functional system within the product that can bring user growth points. For example: sharing, profit rewards, user invitations and other means, the most famous of which are Didi and now Pinduoduo.

Didi’s shared red envelopes allow friends and users themselves to receive red envelope rewards at the same time. Through this long-term reward sharing mechanism, it quickly achieved user growth, user habit cultivation and user activation (of course, the cost is still very high).

The core demand of Pinduoduo itself is group buying, which requires the participation of many people. Therefore, within the initial product framework, Pinduoduo relied on group buying to develop a product strategy of sharing reward red envelopes and achieved rapid user growth. Others include WeChat ’s Shake function, Qutoutiao ’s earn cash by sharing, and Zhihu’s early invitation code system, which are all product feature strategies for user growth.

The means of user growth within the product framework cannot be ignored, and the user growth explosion of many products is due to the explosion of potential energy accumulated at a certain point in the product strategy, which leads to the explosion of product user growth. After users "land", they are always in contact with the product, taking over user traffic within the product level, and completing the creation and maintenance of user relationships to form a closed loop of experience, which is a complete user growth work closed loop.

The most efficient means of user growth is, of course, to trigger user self-propagation and growth at the product function level. This requires us to accurately analyze user needs and gradually form user growth.

Within the operational framework

Operation has always been one of the main ways to rely on user growth. If we break down "growth", it actually includes "increase" and "length", that is, "increase" and "growth".

Operations work within the user growth system can be divided into two aspects:

1. Complete the reach and acquisition of target users ;
2. User relationship maintenance.

To increase user growth, we must establish a framework for the entire user life cycle and look at a series of tasks in a more comprehensive way.

The first part of the work is actually a huge operational work system with many methods. Let’s go back to our initial user analysis and think about these three things: Who are the users? Where are they? What are the characteristics? , and then formulate corresponding strategies will be very targeted. This part of attracting new users can be achieved through both online and offline operations to reach and attract new users.

In this era of information explosion, it is becoming increasingly difficult to operate online. Because user attention is becoming more and more fragmented, the cost of top traffic is actually getting higher and higher, so operators have always had a dream of being able to do an event that can sweep the screen and split.

To reach users, you need to find the right channels . Online operational activities, advertising promotion , mobile phone pre-installation, application distribution advertising cooperation, brand cooperation, WeChat public account promotion cooperation, post advertising in various communities, and even advertising in competing products are all means of reaching online users. We have collaborated with some hot topics, and even carried out operations and promotions in new ways on some new traffic platforms. For example: The recently popular TikTok has allowed many brands to establish their own brand accounts on TikTok, accumulate fans and achieve promotion purposes.

When we were working on the cycling community project before, we attracted new users by posting on various competitor platforms to advertise our project, and then put the WeChat public account and APP download link, which could bring in very accurate users. These tactics are commonly used by startups with few people and few resources.

Online event operations are a means of user growth that many operations teams place great hopes on. Many times, if you accidentally flood the screen with ads, it can lead to a surge in traffic. For example: The operation activities of the New World Marketing Course, if it were not for any violations, would actually be a very good online operation strategy to attract new customers.

Every once in a while, some content will appear on WeChat Moments , which are excellent means of increasing online users. In many cases, we leverage user self-propagation to achieve low-cost and efficient user growth. Our promotional methods need to cover wherever the users are.

Offline user growth may be related to user attributes and product business models. There are many means, including media advertising, offline activities , and even scanning codes to send gifts. When “mass entrepreneurship and innovation” was the trend, China’s Internet army never lacked offline operations to attract new customers.

However, when the means are similar, efficiency is the key. Luckin Coffee , which has become popular recently, has combined multiple operational methods with business models, whether it is offline store activities, media advertisements in office buildings, or free drink giveaways through sharing in WeChat Moments .

The second part of the work within the operational framework is user relationship maintenance, which is a very important internal practice for user growth. When a user comes to the product, we need to maintain this relationship ourselves. Just like in a relationship, after you confess your love and the other person agrees, if you do nothing, it is obvious that the relationship will not last. The success of a relationship depends on the maintenance of the relationship in the later stages. Maintaining user relationships is actually the accumulation of product brand potential, and word-of-mouth communication is also a very important source of user growth.

User stratification operation is actually the idea of ​​maintaining user relationships. In an incremental market, user relationship maintenance can bring long-term user growth. In a stock market, it can better stimulate user value, so why not do it?

There are many strategies for maintaining user relationships within the product, including user incentive systems, product fan community maintenance, irregular online welfare activities, etc.

Community products pay particular attention to maintaining user relationships. In the early days, Zhihu relied on the operation and maintenance of core KOLs to gradually establish the product community tone and the foundation for subsequent user growth. The first step was achieved through a restrained user growth method of establishing an early-rising group through an invitation system.

There are two points to note when it comes to user growth strategies within the operational framework:

• First, look at user growth from the perspective of the user life cycle
• The second is to use cross-border operation ideas to implement user growth strategies.

In fact, there are no boundaries to the means of user growth within the operational framework, because users’ attention is distracted and endless user growth strategies lead to user aesthetic fatigue. We need to take users as the basis, innovation as the direction, and cross-border as the means to formulate user growth strategies and improve user growth efficiency.

Many people think that user growth is actually about increasing the volume quickly, but in fact, there is a lot to do for refined user growth. In particular, it is important to control the pace of user growth at different stages. Pushing the product aggressively when it is immature can easily lead to experience problems, resulting in users being lost soon after the money is spent. It is also important to coordinate the rhythm of user growth and product development in order to maximize product value.